Windows 10: Windows 10 Update can't update system reserved partition

Thanks Topgun,

My head wasn't on straight when I suggested swapping the drives. I still think Disk 0 should be connected to the first port, but for the upgrade, do NOT reconnect Disk 1. Wait until after the upgrade is complete to connect the 2nd drive.

What was I Thinking - that is best practice material to only have the OS disk connected when installing or upgrading! *Wink

I took another look at rittercon's Disk Management in post# 1 and all of the special partitions are 100% free. This doesn't mean that there's nothing on them, it probably means that the space used is so small as to not be reported.

Before making any other suggestions, I'd need to know what is on those partitions.
If rittercon assigned drive letters and changed File Explorer view options to include hidden files and system files, then looked at each partition (posting what is listed) - that would be extremely helpful.

An easy way to grab the file list in File Explorer is to highlight all objects (select all) and use the Home ribbon > copy path feature, then paste the clipboard in a text file.

I'd also like to see what Diskpart says about the disk schema

Command prompt (Admin)
Diskpart
sel dis 0
lis par
*** for each partition X
sel par X
det par

sel dis 1
lis par
*** for each partition X
sel par X
det par

exit
exit
Please post the output (right click the Command prompt title bar, select edit, pick select all, select edit, pick copy)

rittercon, below the fold is for discussion only
do NOT take any action until
1) You post the output I requested, and
2) members helping you have a chance to review and comment.

Here is what I'm thinking
shrink the 1 GB Recovery part to 450 MB, label = Windows RE Tools
Move (left) / resize (grow) the ESP (EFI System partition) to 260 MB - advanced 4k drives, label=System

This will match the recommended MS disk schema
See: Sample: Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Drive Partitions by Using Windows PE and DiskPart

1. Windows RE tools partition
partition primary size=450 (Win8.1=300)
fs=ntfs label="Windows RE tools"
id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
2. System partition
partition efi size=260 (std=100)
** NOTE: For Advanced Format 4Kn drives, change this value to size = 260 **
fs=fat32 label="System"
3. Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition
partition msr size=128

 

Rittercon,

You can read the lengthy posts and procedures that topgundcp and slartybart have made, but keep in mind one thing:
Solved Windows 10 couldn't update system reserved partition - Windows 10 Forums

A three post thread. Problem. Three sentence solution. Problem solved.

 

Decided to swap SSD positions as suggested by Slartybart; mainly because I'm anal and don't like things out of order. My laptop has 3 slots for HDDs; one for m-sata (empty) and two for sata (full). Started the laptop, but it wouldn't boot (as the Lieutenant Commander said it wouldn't). Entered BIOS (UEFI) and manually set the correct SSD (c drive) to boot first. Interestingly, BIOS displayed the m-sata as HDD 1, the data disk (e drive) as HDD 2, and the boot drive (c drive) as HDD 3.

Anyway- the laptop booted into windows just fine. Disk Management shows the two SSD's as GPT partitions, as everyone suspected. Disk Management now shows my primary drive as drive 0 and my data drive as drive 1.

Diskpart reveals pretty much everything that Topgun said it would:
1GB Recovery partition (hidden)
100MB EFI System (FAT32 format) (system)
128MB Reserved (hidden)
My C Drive (boot)
10 GB Recovery partition (hidden)

Will continue reading the other posts and follow-up w/ more.

Thanks!

 

In response to Slartybart's request:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]
(c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.3.9600
Copyright (C) 1999-2013 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: TOSHIBA-LAPTOP

DISKPART> select disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Recovery 1024 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 System 100 MB 1025 MB
Partition 3 Reserved 128 MB 1125 MB
Partition 4 Primary 226 GB 1253 MB
Partition 5 Recovery 10 GB 227 GB


DISKPART> select partition 1
Partition 1 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 1
Type : de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
Hidden : Yes
Required: Yes
Attrib : 0X8000000000000001
Offset in Bytes: 1048576

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 2 System NTFS Partition 1024 MB Healthy Hidden


DISKPART> select partition 2
Partition 2 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 2
Type : c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
Hidden : Yes
Required: No
Attrib : 0X8000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 1074790400

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 3 FAT32 Partition 100 MB Healthy System


DISKPART> select partition 3
Partition 3 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 3
Type : e3c9e316-0b5c-4db8-817d-f92df00215ae
Hidden : Yes
Required: No
Attrib : 0X8000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 1179648000

There is no volume associated with this partition.


DISKPART> select partition 4
Partition 4 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 4
Type : ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7
Hidden : No
Required: No
Attrib : 0000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 1313865728

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 1 C TI10685500A NTFS Partition 226 GB Healthy Boot


DISKPART> select partition 5

Partition 5 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 5
Type : de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
Hidden : Yes
Required: Yes
Attrib : 0X8000000000000001
Offset in Bytes: 244321353728

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 4 Recovery NTFS Partition 10 GB Healthy Hidden

DISKPART>

 

In your post #17, this partition:
100MB EFI System (FAT32 format) (system)

is the one that needs to be increased in size to 350mb. That's the one that Windows 10 isn't liking because it is too small.

 

Yeah. Read this post and you keep refering back to MBR style installation and it worked. Keep in mind, OP is using GPT style installation

 

And it's still the same problem and same solution.

And there is an alternative solution. Delete the 100mb EFI system partition and use a boot loader fix method to create the boot files on C: drive.

 

If I use MiniTool, I can create the 350 MB unallocated space on the C drive and move it to the front. However, when I try to extend the 100MB system partition (aka Partition 2 in Diskpart), it only allows taking from the 1GB recovery partition (aka Partition 1 in Diskpart). There are no other choices in the drop-down box.

If I use AOMEI Partition Assistant, I can create the 350 MB unallocated space on the C drive and move it to the front. However, when I try to resize the 100MB system partition (aka Partition 2 in Diskpart), there's no room to drag the bar to increase the size of the partition beyond the existing100MB size.

 

One thing I noticed... Both MiniTool and AOMEI show the 128MB partition (aka, partition 3 in Diskpart) located between the c drive and the 100MB reserved partition (windows disk management doesn't show this).

The 350MB unallocated space is located between c drive and the 128 MB partition (aka, partition 3 in Diskpart); it's not next to the 100MB reserved partition.

Maybe this is why I can't extend the 100MB reserved partition...

 

This shows the location of the unallocated 350MB relative to c drive, the 128MB partition and the 100MB reserved partition.

 

Yep, so you will have to use Partition Wizard to move the 128 mb partition over, so the free space moves next to the 100mb reserved partition, then you can extend it.

 

The only options when I right click the 128 MB partition are delete, copy, surface test, wipe partition and properties. I can't move it.

I can copy the 100 MB system partition to the unallocated 350MB space and then extend the 100MB to the full 350MB size. I can then delete the original 100MB partition, but do you think that will cause problems?

 

Copy the partition to the empty space, expand it to 350mb, make sure to set the new copy as the active partition, reboot and try to do the upgrade. If the upgrade goes through, you will be able to reverse the process - shrink the copy back to 100 mb, copy it back to the original location, make sure it is set as the active partition, then expand you C: drive back.

 

@NavyLCDR

Did you actually do this ? and what is "a boot loader fix method" ? Would you elaborate this.

Again, How do you set the new copy active partition ? Using diskpart ?

 

Yes. My laptop currently has 2 partitions only on it. One partition has Windows 10 build 10240 and contains my boot loader files. The second partition contains Windows 10 Insider build 10532. I deleted the little 350mb system reserved partition that previously contained my boot loader files and used Macrium Reflect boot fix utility to create the boot files on my Windows partition.

There are plenty of methods to fix a missing boot loader. There's the repair option when booting from Windows install media, there's a bootrec command, there's a bcdedit command, and Macrium Reflect has a tool to fix Windows boot problems, just to name a few. My easiest and most reliable method has proved to be Macrium Reflect.

There's several methods to do that as well. I believe Macrium Reflect does it, if need be, when fixing boot problems with Windows. Diskpart can be used. Windows disk management can be used. Any partitioning program such as Minitool Partition Wizard can do it.

You have to remember - just because a bios may not require the use of an active and separate "system reserved" partition to boot, the manufacturer of the computer system may still have used that method and that is what Windows 10 is seeing - a system reserved partition with the active flag set that contains the boot loader files. And if that partition is initially 100mb in size (which is the common pre-Win 10 size) and Windows 10 can't increase it's size to at least 350mb because something else on the disk is in the way and unmovable, then it will give the "can't update system reserved partition" error.

Because of the differences in bios and computer configurations, Windows 10 is not going to change the location of the boot files or booting method during an upgrade - just like the rest of the previous operating system, it is only going to attempt to upgrade what is already existing. Now, you do a clean install and Windows 10 will create what it thinks the computer is configured to use for booting (which sometimes is not correct).

Rittercon can certainly do a whole bunch of disk partition cleanup - his/her configuration would drive me nuts - but the object here is just to get an upgrade to Windows 10 to finish.